


Brother Knows Best

by Traaasssshhhh



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Trauma, prison era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25777741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traaasssshhhh/pseuds/Traaasssshhhh
Summary: Except for the one thing.Rick Grimes made his baby brother laugh.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon & Merle Dixon, Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes
Comments: 5
Kudos: 134





	Brother Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

> hello lovelies! it is currently nearly midnight and i’m very tired but i had to write this up before bed. so of course, all mistakes are mine.

Merle knows he’s not the greatest human being on this god-forsaken earth, before and after it broke. And he knows he’s even worse as a brother. He tried to protect Daryl when they were growing up- tried to shelter him from Pa. It didn’t work, hardly ever made so much of a dent. He’d come home from a shady hookup or a night spent drinking and Daryl would be beaten to a pulp, bloody and tucked underneath his covers nearly trembling in fear. It take some tough love to get him  to crawl out the next day, to get up and get ready for the day. Ma spent most of her days on the coach, high as the clouds and dreaming of a better life. Daryl would slink off to school, starving and his eyes swollen shut every other week or so. Nobody said anything, child services never came knocking at their door. No one could give two shits about some redneck kids in the mountains. 

Merle tried to pretend it got better when left for the army. Gave his brother a slap on the back and salute before walking away, never looking back at that house. 

Merle thinks that Daryl was messed up after Ma died. The way she died, anyway. She certainly wasn’t winning any parenting awards any time soon but sometimes, if she managed to sober up for just an hour, she’d look at her boys with warmth. Merle knew Daryl craved that kind of warmth, the soft hearted freak. But pulling up to his house with the kids he tried to call friends, watching the firemen put out that fire and watch her body being loaded into an ambulance, that messed him up. Because everyone saw that day. The overturned furniture, alcohol bottles strewn about and cigarette butts littering the floor. And yet, no one did anything. 

He’d come to accept that after he left, Daryl just took the beatings. Stopped fighting, stopped defending himself to save face; he didn’t try anymore. 

So when the end of the fucking world hit, his badass baby brother took it by storm. He stayed angry- riled up by soft folks who were living the nice life and spent his time in the woods. But damn the boy survived. Merle didn’t expect him to get along with the group as well as he does, and nearly nurses envy of how they look to him for his opinion on something. 

But that wasn’t what slapped Merle Dixon in the face the hardest. It was the damn sheriff. The same cop who handcuffed him to a roof and left him there. That was the one who taught his brother how to love. That was the real kicker. Not his brother Daryl survived their horror home with, but a fucking cop he’d known for only a little while. Merle hated it. 

Except for this. The only thing that could possibly redeem Rick friggin’ Grimes. He made Daryl laugh. He made  _ Daryl Dixon  _ smile like he won the lottery. It didn’t even matter what it was, all Rick had to do was say some stupid sentence or sing a lyric from before Daryl would crack a smile. It wasn’t obvious and in no way was it conspicuous. But a small, genuine smile that had his little brother relaxing and lowering his defenses. 

So  _ maybe,  _ Merle thought as he watched his baby brother chuckle softly as Rick tried to get him to dance to some scratchy record playing from inside the prison, putting his hands around his hips to get him to rock slowly with the beat. Maybe he worm his way in. 

**Author's Note:**

> have a lovely rest of your day y’all <3 
> 
> and remember that someone loves you in this world


End file.
